White House names former HHS exec federal CTO

President Obama last week appointed Health and Human Services Chief Technology Officer Todd Park to oversee technology innovation across the federal government.

Park will fill the position of federal CTO, left vacant by Aneesh Chopra in January. In his new role, Park will work with federal Deputy CTO for Telecommunications Tom Power to ensure the adoption of innovative technologies that support job creation, access to affordable healthcare, open government and other administration priorities.

“Todd Park has demonstrated a remarkable talent for enlisting innovative technologies to modernize government, reduce waste, and make government information more accessible to the public,” Obama said in a statement. “In his new position he will bring those skills to the entire federal enterprise, ensuring that government will serve all Americans fairly, effectively, and efficiently.”

Over the past two years, Park’s work at HHS has included the creation of healthcare.gov, a consumer website that lists public and private health insurance plans by zip code and efforts to make HHS health data accessible to the public and app developers.

Park worked on health care strategy, technology and operations as a management consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton before he co-founded the health IT company Athenahealth in 1997. He was hired as an entrepreneur-in-residence at HHS in August 2009.